The Leading men of the business
by toomuchfandom
Summary: Adam watches Mason on a tv show. One shot. Please R&R Finished


**Writer** Willow 

**Title **The Leading men of the business  
**  
Rating **A

**Type of story** Humor

**Canon or Alternative Universe?** A mix of both

**Characters** Mason, Adam, Brennan, Jesse, OC

**Part of a series** N

**Word Count**

**Author's notes:** Grammar might be a little off, I'm Dutch and Word doesn't check grammar mistakes.  
Response to Dark Mirage's writing challenge: _write a story about Mason at the age of 8 prior to the drowning of Marcus, showing aspects of Mason's character that will later be prominent in the adult Mason._   
I adjusted it a little. He's not 8. He's 3,4 and 7 (just read and you'll understand)

_"this means it's on the TV show"_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, Tribune does. Darth Vader is owned by mighty George Lucas. However, I own the characters James Jansen, Debbie Sanchez, Molly Sugden, Mr. Harris, Mr. Colt and Mr. McNamara. But feel free to use them for your own purposes.

Just an ordinary day at Sanctuary, Jesse had gone shopping with Shalimar and Emma. Not because he liked to shop, but Shalimar and Emma needed a strong man to carry all their bags. Brennan had been working out in the dojo, and when he walked towards his room to take a shower, he saw Adam – his leader – watching tv.  
"Hey Adam, what are you watching?" The dark haired Elemental asked.  
"Huh?" Adam looked up to him. "Nothing at the moment. I'm waiting for this tv-show I want to see."  
"Can I watch too?" Brennan sat down next to Adam.  
Adam looked disgusted and looked at Brennan. "Take a shower." He grunted. "You smell."  
"Huh?" Brennan held his arm high and smelled his arm pits. "Oh… yeah." He got up and ran towards the shower.

Adam shook his head and sighed. Watching tv with Brennan meant snacks. He got up and walked to the kitchen to fill a bowl with potato chips. He'd rather watch this tv show with Jesse, so they could have an intelligent conversation after watching the show. When Adam came back from the kitchen, Brennan was already sitting on the couch, his feet onto the table. He broke the speed record of taking a shower Adam grinned to himself, More hot water for me!

"What's the tv show about Adam?" Brennan asked.  
"Leading men in well known companies." Adam replied.  
"Great, you mean like Donald Trump?"  
"Yes." Adam hoped that the tv show would pay attention to him today. Sure, he didn't run a company, but he sure was a leading man in genetics! The tv show started and Brennan shoved a handful of potato chips under his nose.

_"Good evening and welcome at a brand new sparkling episode of "leading men"! I'm Debbie Sanchez and I'm your host this evening."_

Adam got a fit when he saw Mason Eckhart's picture appear on the tv screen. "Whaaaaaaat!" That's _Mason! MY arch enemy and certainly not a leading man!_ Adam thought. _Genomex is NOT a company!_Brennan laughed. "This should be… fun!"

_"Today we'll talk about Mr. Mason Eckhart. Mr. Eckhart is head of Genomex and he's also responsible for setting up the Genetic Security Agency. Since Mr. Eckhart is a leading man in 2 companies, we'll spend 2 episodes on him. Today we're going to talk about his childhood. We have a kindergarten teacher and an old childhood friend as guests today."_

"Too bad the others aren't here to see this." Brennan said amused and poked Adam, as he was still watching the screen in amazement.

_"Mason Eckhart was born in 1962 as one of a twin. His father was in the militairy and wasn't around much. At the age of 3, Mason and his brother Marcus attended kindergarten." _

Adam felt how he started to choke. Mason doesn't deserve this! I DO! Adam thought grim and decided to attack the potato chips aswell.

_"And now it's time to introduce our first guest. Please welcome Mrs. Molly Sugden, former kindergarten teacher of Mason and Marcus Eckhart."_

"Hey Adam." Jesse walked in carrying dozen of bags. "Proxy had some interesting news…" He tripped over his own feet and fell flat on the floor, throwing the bags a few feet away.  
"Jesse! Be careful!" Emma ran in. "Those are expensive shoes!" she squeeked and got a bag to hug it carefully.  
Jesse got up, groaning. "Jess, are you hurt?" he imitated Emma's voice. "No Emma, I'm fine." He continued in his own voice. He rubbed his nose and walked to Adam and Brennan. "Oh, you're already watching it." He smiled and sat down next to Brennan. "Amusing, isn't it?"  
"Yeah man, shut up." Brennan replied.

_"Although Mason and Marcus looked a like, they differed like day and night. Mason was the quiet withdrawn little boy and Marcus liked to boss Mason around whenever he could. They were sweet boys though, and intelligent too." Mrs. Sugden was an old lady, she needed help with walking and she was deaf. Probably a demented as well. "There's this one time where Mason and Marcus were almost 4 years old and they were playing outside with the other children. Marcus ordered Mason, in their own special twin language, to stick his head in a bucket because it was funny. So Mason got a bucket, stuck his head in it and got really stuck. There was no way of removing it. Being desperate, we filled the sink with a mixture of green soap and water and told Mason to hold his breath. We lifted him up and dipped him into the sink. The bucket fell off and Mason didn't talk to Marcus for the remainder of the day."_

Adam gloated. _Yes! Embarrass him!_ He grinned inwardly to himself.  
"That's soooo sweet!" Shalimar cooed. "Seems like Mason was a cute kid!"  
_I'll hurt her when she says that Mason is cute_. Adam thought bittered.  
"Lighten up Adam." Emma giggled.  
Adam was glad that there was a commercial break so he could get his jello.

"No." Mason said a little too frustrated. He had been getting the same calls by different people for about half an hour now. "No, I'm not going to watch myself on TV. I do not owe you an explanation." He put the phone back on the holder and looked at the memo's at his desk in front of him. Although it was getting late, and most Genomex employees had returned home, Mason felt restless. His lawyer had called him, reminding him of the TV show that had decided to pay attention to him. Attention which he didn't want or need. It annoyed him, the producers of that show didn't ask for his permission either.  
He shoved the memo's aside and switched on the TV to watch bits and pieces of the movie Trinity, a story which reminded him of his old friend, and now enemy, Adam. He hoped that this sort of mindless entertainment would ease his mind somehow.

Adam sat down on the couch with 2 pounds of jello in a bowl and heard Brennan snort. "What? You have potato chips." Adam said.  
Brennan shook his head and pointed at Jesse. "Bottomless pit."  
"You big baby. I'll get us some more." Jesse got up and got the bowl off the table.  
"You ate it all."  
"Popcorn?" Jesse smiled and walked to the kitchen. Emma and Shalimar were fitting their new clothes and showing them to themselves, trying to fit their shoes, and adore them greatly.

Adam wished he could switch channels on the TV. There was also a movie coming on which reminded him of Mason. Adam wished he could smack himself on the head, because Mason got too much attention in Adam's head. Mason doesn't belong here! Adam yelled inwardly.  
The show started again when Jesse returned with the popcorn for him and Brennan. A video clip was shown from the sixties.

_"Markie! Give that baaaack!" young Mason yelled. "Mommy allowed me to play with it!" Mason ran after his brother. "Markie!" he nagged with his high squeaking voice. __  
Marcus stopped and turned around. When his brother was close enough, he pushed Mason aside. "It's mine! You stole it!" Marcus said and ran off, leaving a confused Mason sitting on the ground._

In the commercial break of the movie, Mason couldn't hold back his curiosity and changed channels to that TV show. It showed a home made video at his old friend James Jansen's house. Apparently, it was James' 8th birthday and everybody wore party hats, except for Mason.  
Mason smiled to himself, remembering that party quite well. He and Marcus were 7 years old and he knew that at that age, he looked up to his father. He was at that party, dressed up as a soldier with a fake gun in his pocket. Marcus had teased him with that, tough Mason teased just as hard back, Marcus adored pirates and liked to dress up as a pirate. _"It's stupid to think you're a pirate Markie. They don't exist anymore. You've been watching Peter Pan and Popeye too much!"_ Mason remembered saying to his twin. It was one of the few moments where Marcus actually listened to him. But he also remembered how Marcus hit him after Mason had said that. And how Marcus' words hurt him deeply. _"I will ALWAYS be better than you Mason Grey Eckhart. You don't have the will to fight." _Of course, Marcus was only parroting his father, who favoured Marcus over Mason.  
Mason switched off the TV. He had too many memories floating in his head, and a movie wouldn't distract him. He got up and started his security round.

James Jansen, family of Dutch immigrants, had lots of video footage with him of Mason. Adam thought it was funny to see how Mason got ignored when he was little. But it was sad too.

When the TV show was over, Adam turned to Jesse and Brennan. "I know Mason is someone we rather hate and humiliate than be nice to him. But it's not fair towards him to use this TV show thing when we talk with/about/to him. It'll be a kick below the belt, and that's not how we fight."  
"Okay Adam." Brennan and Jesse chorused. Adam smiled and patted the boys on their heads. He walked to his room to get his coat and headed for the hangar.  
"I'm leaving for an hour. Please keep Sanctuary in one piece?" he asked Jesse.

Mason had just finished his round and headed back to his office. His mind had eased and Marcus was back where he belonged, in the back of his head, and locked and sealed in a special place of his heart. He couldn't work with emotions rushing through his body. His fake skin seemed to get tighter and his breathing would get heavier. He remembered a time when it was so bad, that he had compared himself to Darth Vader, a character of a movie he'd seen with Adam and Jackie once.

Mason sat down in his red comfortable chair and took hold of the memo's again. The first one was of Mr. Harris, one of the GSA agents who was more than an agent.

_Mr. Eckhart, GSA agents Colt and McNamara have been killed by New Mutants after pursuing them into a warehouse. Agent Colt got burned by an Elemental with the ability to shoot fire bolts and Agent McNamara was attacked by an Ursine Feral. The bodies have been cremated, please inform the agents' relatives. ___

Mr. Harris… still not capable of writing memo's… Mason thought to himself. "what a waste." He muttered.  
"It's a waste that you're still here Mason." Adam emerged from the shadows.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"Checking up on you."  
"How did you get in?" Mason got up. Adam annoyed him. He had to go.  
"The same way I'm planning to get out." Adam smiled mischievously. "Did you watch that TV show today?"  
"I'm not a vain man Adam." Mason sat down on the edge of his desk. "I did not ask for this insanity."  
"Maybe it's good to be a bit insane Mason." Adam waved and walked out of Mason's office, knowing Mason wouldn't follow.

Not this time. Maybe another…


End file.
